Cupid's Arrow of Doom, Chapter 5
A Danny Phantom fanfiction by Dustin M. Dixon
"OH GOD OH JEEZ OH CRAP OH NO!" Danny shouted, swerving out of the way of Dash's iron grip and quickly clambering into the nearest locker.
"Dude! Fenton just shoved himself into a locker!" Kwan exclaimed gleefully.
"Eh… it's just not the same." Dash sighed, slumping off. However, the rest of the boys and the entirety of the girl mob were still crowded around the locker for several minutes.
"So…" a random girl spoke up. "Is he getting out any time soon, or…?"
"Fenton?" Kwan asked, knocking on the locker and completely ignoring the flash of light that shined through the holes in the locker door. As the mob of angry teenagers stood there, Danny phased through the locker and harmlessly past his pursuers.
"Okay… so today's NOT going as good as it was five minutes ago. What's going ON in this school anyway? I get the football team hate, but why everything else?" he asked out loud, flying off to find the answer, despite the fact that he was now late for his second-period class…
As the second period bell rang, Tucker started to walk into class, only to be interrupted by Jazz calling out to him.
"Tucker! Hi!" she greeted enthusiastically.
"Oh, hey Jazz!" Tucker waved excitedly. "'Sup?" he started to sweat again as the current object of his arrow-induced affections leaned in toward him. "Stupid antiperspirant deodorant! What you do for Tucker?!"
"Hang on…" Jazz spoke up again. "There's something on your face, It's on your lips."
"On my lips? There's nothing on my lips." Tucker grinned nervously.
"There is NOW." She replied with a smirk, before closing the distance between them with a kiss.
'She's… kissing me?! Jazz LIKES me?!' he thought, letting one more thought come to his mind as he wrapped his arms around her and returned her affections. 'Darn… why didn't I think of that line?! That was gold!'
"S-so…" Tucker stammered as they broke the kiss simultaneously. "Wanna… be my Valentine?"
"Is the Box Ghost a lame villain?" she smirked. Tucker's response flooded the hallway of Casper High…
"YES! I've got a Valentine!"
"Whatever caused this to happen has got to be somewhere around here…" Danny trailed off, as his ghost sense finally activated and he swerved out of the way of Plasmius' ectoplasmic energy blast just in the nick of time. He turned angrily and fired a blast of his own at the older half-ghost, who deflected it with his right hand. "Plasmius! Of course… it's Valentine's Day… I should have figured the lonely rich pathetic old man was behind it." He cracked a grin as he continued. "Did you get that Valentine my mom sent?" he then flew toward Plasmius and punched him back about twenty feet. "Oh, that's right! She never sent you a Valentine! That's cause she's happy with my dad!"
"Very clever, Daniel." Plasmius frowned, but that frown changed into a grin as he spoke up again. "But I'm not here to exchange that witty banter you kids these days so enjoy! I'm sure you've realized something's going on with the girls in this school!"
"You mean that they're all flocking to me?" Danny asked.
"Exactly. And they're extremely clingy. I'm surprised you were able to morph at all with them swarming around you like they have been."
"Why do this though? I can't see how this could POSSIBLY benefit your little game of 'chess' with me!" Danny griped.
"Oh, who said it had anything to do with that? I just wanted to watch you suffer." Plasmius grinned evilly. "After all…" he trailed off, his grin vanishing and being replaced with an ugly snarl. "You deserve it! Consider this payback for you and that failed clone destroying my perfect half-ghost son!"
"If this is your idea of payback, then you suck at it." Danny crossed his arms, smirking confidently. "What's next, gonna send the Box Ghost to assassinate my dad with his 'corrugated cardboard vengeance'?"
"Ah, young, idiotic Daniel… you truly have taken after your father in the foresight department." He took an opportunity to blast Danny back. "Did you really think it was that simple? There's a part 2 to my little 'gift', as it were. Those girls are under the spell of Cupid, the God of Love. However, thanks to millions of little 'incentives'…" he paused, using air quotes for the word incentives. "Cupid added an extra bit of magic to those arrows that hit your classmates. When the clock strikes midnight, they will hate you… forever! You won't have a chance with any of them… including the young Miss Gray. I believe you have feelings for her, do you not?"
"Valerie…!" Danny's eyes widened, remembering what had happened about fifteen minutes ago.
"I believe I've filled in enough of the gaps. Your life through the last two years of high school will be bitter and lonely, just like you keep insisting my life is now!"
"Your life IS bitter and lonely." Danny reaffirmed with a scowl as he blasted at Plasmius once more. "And I'm not gonna be like you!"
"I'm afraid you will, Daniel. The only one who can break the spell is Cupid, and he works for me!"
"Wait, hang on… CUPID." Danny sounded out Cupid's name, just now realizing the bigger picture of what Vlad was saying.
"Yes. Cupid. God of Love… well, he's actually a fairy."
"Wait…" Danny held up his right hand to stop Plasmius. "Fairies EXIST."
"Oh please, Daniel. You live in a town where GHOSTS invade constantly and the existence of fairies surprises you?!" Plasmius grinned, noticing the bewildered expression on Danny's face. "I see you're still processing. I guess I'll have to show you." He then floated through the ceiling. Against his better judgment, Danny followed him, only to be completely taken aback as Cupid came into view. "Daniel, meet Cupid. Cupid, Daniel."
"Hiya!" Cupid greeted enthusiastically.
"For being an enemy of mine, you're pretty cheerful." Danny shrugged.
"It's a job. I'm just doing this for the big bucks." Cupid grinned, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction.
"Money, huh?"
"Yeah! As the God of Love, I LOVE money!"
"So… would you take 5 bucks to lift the spell from all those girls down in that school ready to tear me apart cause I'm going on a date with Valerie?" Danny grinned really big, with a childish 'pretty please' look in his eyes.
"Hmm… 5 bucks, or 5 MILLION bucks? Which do YOU think he's going to choose, Daniel?" Plasmius grinned wickedly.
"You heard the boss man. He's got big bags of money with my name on them!"
"So in short, I hope you enjoyed making fun of my bitter lonely life, because yours is about to get ten times more lonely!" Plasmius grinned once more before spinning his cape around himself and vanishing in a pink swirl of ghost energy. Cupid followed suit immediately, leaving Danny alone to ponder what horrifying turn these events would take…